24 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuLu. 185 
the Manitaries (Hidatsa), who had come thus far on their hunting 
excursions. The lower part of the huts, or lodges, was covered with 
the bark of trees; the entrance was square...” (Maximilian, 1906, 
in Thwaites, vol. 23, pp. 216-217). 
Washington Matthews (1877, pp. 7-8) quotes a description by 
Palliser of a “Minnetaree” lodge of this type which the latter had 
found in the Turtle Mountains (the present Killdeer Mountains) 
four days from Fort Berthold in the spring of 1858. Matthews then 
goes on to say: “In the winter of 1871, while hunting with a party 
of Indians from the Berthold Village, in the badlands of the Little 
Missouri, I spent three nights in a lodge of exactly the same kind 
which was quite old, and had often served as the temporary shelter 
of Hidatsa hunting parties.” Matthews later describes a ceremonial 
structure which was built by the Hidatsa eagle-trappers in their 
camps, as “built after the manner of their ordinary earth-covered 
dwelling houses, but is much smaller. The doorway is low and small 
. .” (ibid., p. 59). This, in 20 words, describes the ruined structure 
found on the Little Missouri in 1951 by the survey party. 
Variations of this type of lodge are reported for the Hidatsa. One 
was made by leaning dry poles on each side of a leaning tree. Two 
forked posts at one end carried a stringer against which poles were 
placed, giving the shelter a triangular floor plan (Wilson, 1928, 
pp. 122, 184-135, and fig. 5, ¢). Another variant was formed by 
digging into a steep slope until a level floor was obtained. Short, 
forked posts were planted behind the excavation and longer poles 
were placed in front and inclined to meet them. In a shelter of this 
type one side was of earth, the other of poles. Apparently no central 
supports were used (ibid., pp. 142-144, and fig. 7). 
Remains of log or pole lodges, possibly of Crow origin, are re- 
ported from along the Yellowstone River in Montana. Several types 
are said to be present, some being conical but without central founda- 
tion posts, others made by leaning poles against a cliff. Still others 
were made of horizontally placed logs (Mulloy, 1952, p. 132, and 
fig. 57). The Montana remains seem to be more closely related to 
the Blackfoot war lodge and to the Hidatsa variants described by 
Wilson than to the structure found on the Little Missouri. 
The Blackfoot war lodge, located in heavily wooded areas near 
streams or on thickly wooded heights, had a foundation of three or 
four heavy, forked trunks of cottonwood locked together at the top. 
Lighter poles were leaned against these at the intersections to com- 
plete the steep-sided, conical framework, which was then covered with 
slabs of cottonwood bark. <A low, angling passageway made of 
forked poles leaning together at the top and covered with bark ex- 
tended outward from the entrance. Logs or rocks were piled against 
